A question asked in an exam of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur went viral for referencing its alumnus and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The question asked in a quiz of the institute mentioned PM Modi's radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

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This was the question: 

After a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, IIT Alumnus Mr. Arvind Kejriwal wants to tune into the “Mann ki Baat" program by our Prime Minister on the Vividh Bharti (AIR) FM at a frequency of 105.4 MHz. Mr. Kejriwal wants to design a filter which may pass the content of Vividh Bharti channel while attenuating (rejecting) the adjacent FM radio channels Radio Nasha (107.2 MHz) and FM Rainbow Lucknow (100.7 MHz) by at least -60 dB. Since he spent a lot of money during the election campaign, he can only afford a resistor of 50 £2, a variable inductor and a variable capacitor to design this filter. Can you please help Mr. Kejriwal design this filter using the R, L, and C components and find out:

(a) the quality factor (2) of this filter.

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(b) the values of inductance and capacitance needed.

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The quiz was held in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the institute on February 11. Students were asked to design a filter which Kejriwal could use to "pass a content of one radio channel while attenuating the adjacent two channels by -60db to tune into PM's broadcast". 

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With two parts having two marks each, the question asked students to design the filter using R (resistor), L (inductor) and C (capacitor). The question further said that since Kejriwal spent a great amount of money on the election campaign, he could afford a resistor of 50 ohms only. 

To make exam 'more engaging' 

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As the question paper circulated on the social media platform X, the authorities of the institute claimed they wanted to make the exam "more engaging". 

"It has come to our attention that a question from an exam in the department of electrical engineering has been circulating on social media. We would like to clarify that the faculty member in question frequently incorporates references to well-known personalities—both real and fictional—to make exam questions more engaging for students," an II-K official said in statement. 

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"In the past, similar references have included characters such as Tony Stark. The intent behind this approach is purely academic, with no other implications," the statement further added. 

Meanwhile, a student of the institute said, "The names of Arvind Kejriwal or Mann Ki Baat in the question were used for added effect. There are professors who make questions interesting with their innovations by incorporating current events."

'Trolling Arvind Kejriwal via an exam paper'

Meanwhile, the internet shared its response to the question with some making fun of it while others calling it a sign of a "narrow-minded society".

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One user of the social media platform X shared the question paper's image and wrote, "IIT Kanpur Prof is trolling Arvind Kejriwal via an exam paper" with a laughing emoji. 

Meanwhile, another said, "This is brilliant. Engineering students love application-oriented teaching. Only thing relevant to them in this question is frequencies, resistance & noise level. Rest is for us to outrage on social media."

"This is a fantastic example of contextualising a theoretical question in a real-life scenario to make it more relatable," responded another. 

(With inputs from agencies)